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30th September 2011 – Another hot
d, 28 deg C being the maximum recorded on the
Gloucester Weather Website.I went
to Nagshead RSPB Reserve and walked the short
trail.There was a flock of about
20 Siskin over the Meadow and there were a number of hirundines
passing the same place.Around the
trail there were several Song Thrush and in the Rowan
trees at the far end of the short trail, there was at least one Bullfinch
foraging but the berry crop is almost depleted now.There will be few left for the winter
thrushes which will be arriving any day now.

I
moved on to Slimbridge by lunchtime and noted a lot
of civil engineering work being done on Rushy Pen to
ready it for the winter wildfowl.I
walked to Middle Point but was unable to get to the hide because the high tides
had flooded the path over the last 20 metres or so.I viewed for a short while from the path
over the flood defence and noted a number of Lapwing
on the Dumbles.I looked at them from the Holden Tower later and saw that there were a
number of Golden Plover with them.There were at least 4 Grey Heron and 1 Little Egret on the river where
there were many small waders but they were too far away for close scrutiny.

29thSeptember 2011 – A very warm
day, the temperature reaching 26 deg. C. on the Gloucester Weather
Website.This evening there was a
‘cloud’ of hirundines over the house at Longhope.These
were mainly House Martins at approximately 1800.

28th September 2011 – A warm day
with the temperature at 24 deg. C. at 1400.A few hirundines
noted over Longhope this afternoon.

27th September 2011- I went to Ashleworth just after lunch.From the hide there is a little bit of
water in the newly cleared scrapes.It was a beautiful warm day with the temperature at 18 deg. C. at
noon.Around the Ham Road/Stank
Lane junction and along the lane itself there were at least 5 Chiffchaffs, some
calling and some foraging vigorously. A Kestrel was quite active around the
fields near the lane and seems to be very conspicuous lately.Over Colways
Farm, there were 4 Buzzards and a Peregrine together in the air.A few hirundines
passed but more passed Longhope in the late afternoon
to keep the steady stream of passage going.

25th September 2011 – It rained
from before dawn to early afternoon.

24th September 2011 – I walked
Stank Lane at Ashleworth late this morning.It was very quiet and the onlybirds of
note were a Kestrel hunting and a Chiffchaff singing.A dry and pleasant
day.

23rd September 2011 – Another
typical, beautiful autumnal day as yesterday and I walked the long trail at Nagshead.Again, not surprisingly it was very quiet with the only birds of note
being at least one Bullfinch on the Rowan Trees at the far end of the short
trail.At three different points I
encountered a single Fallow Deer.I
believe that these were different animals.The last one I saw on the shale forestry track leading back to the
information centre was a very dark animal and certainly different to the other
two.

22nd September 2011 – Seawatching at Strumble Head.Species totals between 1150 and 1320
were:- Sabine’s Gull 1, Arctic Skua 1 dark
phase, Great Skua 2, ‘Commic’
Tern 1, Sooty Shearwater 2, Mediterranean Gull 2, Red-throated Diver 1, Rock
Pipit 2, Wheatear 1, Balearic Shearwater 1, Wader species 10 (probably
Dunlin).After lunch I did two more
seawatching stints, making a total of 3 ¾ hoursbut it was
then very quiet with no passage birds.Weather was overcast at first becoming sunny and the wind was SW, force
2/3.Swallows were coming in off
the sea in steady numbers and this species were also seen over the road en
route to the coast but particularly between Haverfordwest
and Fishguard.Butterflies included a small number of Small Tortoiseshell.

21st September 2011 – A bus trip
from Longhope to Ross and then on to Hereford yielded
a steady stream of swallow sightings.

20th September 2011 – A very
wet day and one of those rare days when it rained for all of the daylight
hours.11mm
of rain recorded on the Gloucester Weather Website.

19th September 2011 – A late
afternoon walk around the long trail at Nagshead RSPB
Reserve did not produce many sightings.On the lower part of the short trail it was dead calm and overcast.Along the forestry track towards the end
of the long trail it was more windy because it is in a
bit more exposed area on top of the ridge.I momentarily caught sight of a black animal on the far side of the heathland
near the furthest point of the long trail.I could not be sure but I think that this could have been a wild
boar.By 1840 there was a light
drizzle and the temperature was 14 deg. C.

Many hirundines over my home in Longhope at 1440.

17th September 2011 – I was down
near the Westbury White Horse and later, Devizes today and there was a steady
but small number of hirundines passing through.

16th September 2011 – I went to Lydney Harbour at lunchtime to try to find the reported
Spotted Sandpiper but I failed to see it.There was a Peregrine flying high above the river to the south.It was a flat calm day with the tide
going out at a rate of knots and a good number of Swallows were following the
river to the south.

I
had a walk around the short trail at Nagshead later
in the afternoon with the dappled sunshine dancing in the trees.Very quiet.

15th September 2011 – An afternoon
visit to Nagshead Reserve and the long trail.It was fairly quiet but I did hear
Bullfinches in at least two locations.A flock of Siskins flew over the car park when I arrived and when I left
there were Goldfinches in the tops of the car park trees.Large Red Damselflies were on the
Nursery Pond.

14th September 2011 – A dry and
warm day with a moderate breeze and 18 deg. C. at lunchtime.I went to Slimbridge
and walked out to Middle Point in the afternoon.There was a steady stream of Swallows
moving south again.On the river,
there were a number of Black-headed Gulls, a few Curlew and 6 Wigeon which must be early winter migrants.There were several ‘Commic’ Terns and a single Sandwich Tern and a mixed
flock of Dunlin and Ringed Plover were foraging.Upon returning towards the Centre, there
were 5 Green Sandpipers on the Robbie Garnett scrape and one more on the Rushy Pen.A
lone Wheatear was on a fence post on the Dumbles.

13th September 2011 – More hirundines moving steadily south over Huntley today.

12th September 2011 – It was very
windy overnight, so at lunchtime, I went down the river to see if there were any wind
blown seabirds.At Newnham, it was very quiet at 1330 but there were quite a
number of House Martins battling into the wind and going down river.

At
Beachley, the river was brown and in turmoil.There were a few gulls around and a
single Curlew on the opposite shore.Swallows were continually passing into the wind on their southern
migration.I finally found a
Sandwich Tern fighting the wind near the opposite shore, almost in
Gloucestershire but not quite.

The
short trail at Nagshead in the late afternoon was
very quiet but both Blackbirds and Robins are showing again after their post
breeding moult.

10th September 2011 – A warm and
humid day which was quite breezy.I
walked along Stank Lane at Ashleworth.Again there was a steady if
small-numbered stream of Swallows passing.There were heavy showers this evening and still breezy.

9th September 2011 – I left to go
to Strumble Head at 0700 and was set up seawatching at 1100.At the Head, it was overcast with the wind in the south and force 3 to 4
and temperature at 17 deg. C.My
first session before lunch was from 1100 to 1315.Species totals were 34 Common Scoter, 1
adult Sabine’s Gull, 6 Artic Skua,
6 ‘Commic’ Tern, 26 Sandwich Tern and
there were a steady stream of Swallows passing all day.After lunch I did another session from
1355 to 1545.A single Curlew was
on Mackerel Rock, 2 Great Skua passed and other
species included 15 wader species together, 10 more ‘Commic’
Tern and an unidentified skua was on the sea at long
range and a Chough passed by.I
walked to the beach area and butterflies included a ‘white’, Red
Admiral, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and Small Tortoiseshell.

8th September 2011 – I walked the
short trail at Nagshead which continues to be very quiet.I called into the Pygmy Pinetum nursery and noted that House Martins are still
attending the nests on the house.

7th September 2011 – While driving
home at about 1700 along the Cannop Valley road just
a few hundred yards out of the village of Parkend, I
came across a herd of Wild Boar crossing the road all together and moving east
in the direction of Farmers Green.There were about 10 animals present.

5th September 2011 – At Westonbirt arboretum it was generally quiet but there were
a number of hirundines around the tree tops, no doubt
hawking insects.A
showery day becoming cool in the evening.

Of
note back at home in Longhope this evening, I found a
budgerigar in a nearby Ash tree.With the forecast of wind and rain overnight, I do not hold much hope of
seeing this bird again.

4th September 2011 – I walked the
long trail at Nagshead and again, not surprisingly,
it was quite quiet.A dry day after overnight rain with more rain coming after dark.

3rd September 2011 – I went to Ashleworth and walked along Ham Road and Stank Lane from
the hide.25 Lapwing were in the
same field as the 27th August except that this time there were also
cows in the same field.Several
Stock Doves were in this area as well.Kestrel and Sparrowhawk were the raptors of
note as seen from the lane but upon getting back to Ham Road, a Buzzard was of
note and a Peregrine which was harassing this bird turned its attention to a
passing flock of racing pigeons.It
did not catch any of them and they just flew away from the raptor with relative
ease.I have seen this before with
these species in level flight and was not surprised.Many House Martins and Swallows were
passing through.This has been the
pattern for the past two or three weeks.There seem to be a lot of birds of these species now compared to the
spring passage where these were notable by their absence in general.A noticeable number of these latest
birds seem to be juvenile, suggesting that these species have had a good
breeding season.

2nd September 2011 – Another
fine and warm day with the temperature reaching 22 deg. C. at midday.At Nagshead
along the short trail, it was very quiet.

I
went to MynyddTroed to the
east of Llangorse Lake.This is a high hill rising to 600m with
a steep climb up to the ridge.There were quite a number of Meadow Pipits and a few sightings of
Skylark and one each of Yellowhammer and Wheatear.I had very close views of a Red Kite and
also noted a number of Raven, a Buzzard and a Peregrine.

1st September 2011 – A fine and
warm day with not a cloud in the sky in the early morning and with only a
little build up during the day.Along the A40 road between Lea and Ross-on-Wye, there were several
active flocks of House Martins and Swallows thus constituting a solid record
for September.There were at least
two flocks of House Sparrows, one near Weston under Penyard
and one near the Ross boundary.It
is always good to see this species.

31st August 2011 – A very late
afternoon around the short trail at Nagshead was
unproductive.This is not really
surprising in that it is a quiet time of year and this was a quiet time of
day.It was a flat calm and
moderately warm day and as such any movement was easily noticed.On this theme, there were many Grey Squirrels
moving about in the branches, foraging for food.Many them appeared to be quite small and
were probably juveniles and thus this seems to indicate a good breeding season.

30th August 2011 – I went to the
general area of Ashleworth and Hasfield
today and found 2 juvenile Hobbies perched and an adult in the air not too far
away.Otherwise it was generally
quiet apart from quite a number of Swallows over a field to the north of Stank
Lane.Later I called into the hide
at Ashleworth and found that there is still some
water in the newly cleared scrapes but there were no birds, partly because some
work had been carried out at the back of these scrapes and the resulting
bonfire was still smouldering and occasionally flaring up.

29th August 2011 – Walked up the
Gloucestershire Way from CannopStoneworks.There are still a number of Swallows
hawking insects over the ponds and near the short trail at Nagshead
RSPB Reserve, there are still plenty of Rowan berries but today, the only birds
that I could see feeding were at least two Bullfinch
and some Chaffinch.

This
evening at home in Longhope, a number of Swallows
passed over on passage in a rather purposeful flight.Of general note, although there appeared
to be very few hirundines seen on passage in the
spring, there appears to be a great number of them around over the past two
weeks or so and many of them have been juveniles so it may be that they have
had a very good breeding season.

27th August 2011 – I went to Ashleworth on a day of potential showers but really there
was virtually no rain.There was a
little water in the newly cleaned scrapes after the heavy rain of last
night.I walked along Stank Lane and
was surprised to find a flock of at least 27 Lapwing in a field to the north of
the lane.This was after finding at
least 7 Stock Dove in the field opposite Colways Farm
on Ham Road.A mixed flock of small
passerines in Stank Lane included several Long-tailed Tits and at least one
Chiffchaff.

Of
note before I left home in Longhope this morning, a
Peregrine overflew the house to the north west.

26th August 2011 – Following some
heavy rain late in the day on 24thof August, the first substantial
rain for some time, this evening between 1840 and 1740 there was continuous
heavy rain with some thunder and lightning.

23rd August 2011 – Did not go into
the field today as heavy rain was forecasted to fall for most of the day.In reality, it was a fine day with some
sunshine and no rain at all!

22nd August 2011 – I was near the
small village of Wolvesnewton which is south of
Monmouth today for a meeting and at about 1700, a massive number of hirundines appeared over the buildings.It was another warm day with
temperatures reaching 23 deg. C. in the afternoon.

21st August 2011 – A warm day today
with temperatures reaching 24 deg. C. in the afternoon when I was at Rutland
Water in |Rutland for the British Birdwatching Fair
which I attended the last time in 2009.A Hobby gave two very close fly bys from one
of the hides.Also present near the
Centre was a lone Greenshank and there seemed to be many more Little Egrets
there than in previous years at this event.Most of the time was spent going around
the stalls and not being in the field very much hence the few sightings
listed.

20th August 2011 – I went to Ashleworth and noted from the hide that there is now no
water at all in the newly cleaned out scrapes on the main reserve.

16th August 2011 – Ashleworth.There was an amount of drizzle earlier this morning but by about 1100,
the day had brightened up.With no
water in the sluice, I was able to get to the stream bed and dig to find my
wedding ring which I had lost here on 11th October 2008 while
putting the sluice boards in for that winter.

13th
August 2011 – At Ashleworth there were a pair of Redstarts in the area of
the constant effort ringing site.The scrapes in front of the hide have been dug out in the past few
days.They are now much deeper and
although there is no water in them at the moment, they should hold water for
longer when they are full.The
island is still there and the spoil has been banked up and I can see that
wildfowl will be lying out on these higher areas.Overall, I think that this is a welcome
improvement.

12th
August 2011 – There
seemed to be a number of birds around the garden at Longhope
early this morning including Blackcap, Goldcrest and
Chaffinch.Hirundines
still are passing through in small numbers.

In
the afternoon, I walked the short trail at Nagshead
RSPB Reserve and at the far end of this walk, there
were at least 2 Hawfinch on the very ripe and abundant Rowan berries.

8th
August 2011 – I went to
Slimbridge in the afternoon on a dry day.Rushy Pen was
full of interest.Among the
Black-headed Gulls were a number of recent fledglings which had been reared in
this area. Waders included at least 7 Green Sandpipers, a Wood Sandpiper, 2
Greenshank, several Lapwing and an Oystercatcher.There were 3 species of Wagtail present,
Yellow, Grey and Pied.

3rd August 2011 – Ashleworth.A dry, warm and humid
day.I spent 2 hours at the
hide and walking along Stank Lane.From the hide I noted a Hobby in the
distance which gradually got closer and eventually flew close over the hide and
then to the south.Willow Warblers were singing again along Ham Road near the
junction with Stank Lane.Along the lane there were several
Chiffchaffs and a Redstart.At the
top of the lane there appeared to be a number of Common Whitethroat, some of
them juvenile with stubby tails.There seemed to be Buzzards everywhere, many in flight but also some
perched up.

1st
August 2011 – I walked
up Pen y Fan in South Wales.About half way up, I walked into the
clouds and drizzle and about 30m visibility.Before I lost the visibility I noted
some Meadow Pipits and a Wheatear on the slopes.

30th
July 2011 – I spent
two hours in the hide at Ashleworth from 1200.Kestrels may have bred as I saw 3 birds
flying together and another one perched.Buzzards appear to have a stash in the top ‘U’ brace on one
of the pylons as I saw something sticking up and then a Buzzard picking atit there
later.A small raptor was on one of
the pylons again as last week and I believe that it is a Hobby.It eventually flew down to the
right and went somewhere in the area of the top end of Stank Lane.A Grey Heron was on the scrape and
caught a small eel.A juvenile
Moorhen also put in a feeding appearance there and confirmed breeding in the
area.

29th
July 2011 – I had a
meeting at Kenfig Nature Reserve near Port Talbot in South Wales.This was the first time that I had been
to this reserve.It is quite
extensive and definitely merits a return visit both in the winter to see what
birds are on the large lake and in spring to see what birds are in the various
habitats.It certainly looks a good
place.

28th July 2011 – Nagshead.There were an amazing 14 Tree Pipits in
the meadow area and a Whitethroat which is quite a rare bird for the reserve in
the same area.On my return from
the long trail, there were 4 Red Admirals which flew up from the shale track in
the usual areas.A Fallow Deer was
near the path to the Campbell
Hide and this animal was not worried by my presence although it took a good
look at me.A
warm day with sunny periods.

27th
July 2011 – I had an
hour at Symonds Yat in warm sunshine from 1345.A Hobby flew through and a Sparrowhawk put in an appearance and the usual Buzzards
were around and about but the day belonged to the Peregrines.There was plenty of aerial action.This included the adult male bringing in
what looked like a Woodpigeon late in the hour but generally there was a lot of
flying by the juveniles and one of them kept flying to the very weak tops of
some of the trees and breaking off some small twigs which it then appeared to
‘feed’ from while on the wing.I have not seen this behaviour before and I suspect that the bird was
trying to get something off the bark of these very spindly twigs which are too
fragile to land on.

26th
July 2011 – A warm
sunny day at Ashleworth.I walked around the reserve along the
footpaths from Dirty Lane.2 Hobbies were calling and flying over Hasfield Ham.2
Bullfinch were along the path at the back of the reserve as were Whitethroat,
Sedge Warbler and Willow
Warbler.From the hide, there is
very little water but a Grey Heron was still trying to fish.

I
moved to Slimbridge where I found many waders.These included a good number of
Black-tailed Godwits, some Lapwing, Green Sandpiper, Greenshank, Redshank and
Ruff and also a Spoonbill on South Lake.

24th July 2011 – Nagshead.I was there from 0940 to 1050 with the
temperature at 17 deg. C.I walked
the long trail.Two Fallow Deer
were near the straight section of the trail, one animal much smaller than the
other and both with spotted coats.I returned to Nagshead later and walked around
the short trail where I found Spotted Flycatcher, Treecreeper,
Nuthatch, Great Tit, Blue Tit and Long-tailed Tit.Also at the far end of the trail in the
open area, there were Pied Flycatcher, male Blackcap, male Bullfinch and
Chaffinch all feeding on the rowan berries which are there in profusion this
year and have ripened somewhat earlier.

23rd
July 2011 – I went to
the hide at Ashleworth between 1350 and 1530.2 Grey Herons, a Canada Goose and a male Pintail were on the scrape where there are
only big puddles of water left.Buzzard and Kestrel were overhead and a small raptor was on one of the
pylons but it was too far away to identify.I then walked Stank Lane where I found a male
Redstart.I could see no waders and
most of the fields have now been cut.At the end of the tarmac part of the lane a Brown Hawker dragonfly was
unexpected.The small raptor was
still on the pylon and and later as I was nearing Ham Road on my
return, I saw a small raptor flying but only briefly.This may have been a Hobby and when I
got back to the hide there was no bird on the pylon..

20th
July 2011 – I walked
the short trail at Nagshead.Generally it was quiet but on the lower
part of the trail, I found a Spotted Flycatcher.There were plenty of Song Thrushes
present as usual.There was also
plenty of Grey Squirrels about.On
the return part of the trail, I came across a Fallow Deer amongst the bracken
in the middle of the trail.I then
noted another animal and I don’t think that either
animal was aware of me and kept feeding and I moved on.

14th
July 2011 – I made a
short visit of one hour to Symonds Yat to look for
the Peregrines again between 1430 and 1530.At one point there were three birds in
the air over the breeding cliffs and there were three birds perched up.This was probably the local pair with
their four young.Although only
three young had been reported a few days ago, it is now being reported that
they have four young and this seems to be the case with my sightings
today.

13th July 2011 – Went to the Vale
of Neath on business and took the opportunity to go up into the hills to the
west of the village of Crynant to look for possible
breeding Honey Buzzards which have been known to have bred in this general area
for many years.I walked up to the
summit and had good views of a Goshawk, Common Buzzard and a stunning male
Redpoll.I watched a possible Honey
Buzzard for some time but at a distance and I could not be sure of the
identification.

12th
July 2011 – Between
1020 and 1230, I walked Ham Road
and Stank Lane
at Ashleworth from the hide.It was overcast and 17 deg. C..A
Grasshopper Warbler was reeling not far from the hide but on the reserve.Many warblers were in the bushes along
the road and lane, many of them were Chiffchaffs.A Treecreeper
was along Ham Road
whereas in Stank Lane
there were several Stock Doves and young of Robin, Great Tit and Redstart, the
latter being of two birds.A lone
Lapwing did not move too much on a cut but unharvested
field to the south of the lane.There were a number of corvids in attendance
and quite of number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls wheeling around but they did
not seem to bother this wader.Is
this a breeding bird?Whitethroats
were in evidence at the top of the lane.

11th
July 2011 – Walked
the long trail at Nagshead between 1625 and
1820.An Emperor Dragonfly was the
only odonate on the wing at the Nursery Pond as I
walked by and a Mallard there has 2 ducklings.On the lower part of the short trail, I
briefly glimpsed a very small deer.A pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a pair of Blackcap were in the same
area.At the far end of the long
trail, there has been much tree clearance and the quarry in BixsladeValley is now on clear view.Along the wide forest track back towards
the car park, I counted 8 Red Admiral Butterflies neatly spaced with
territories along this path.See my
notes of last year.This is regular
spot for seeing this species at this time of year. At least 2 Fallow Deer were
near the path to the Campbell
Hide, one being quite small.

At
the top of Plump Hill near the triangular pool on the south side of the road
there were some deer feeding quite happily as the cars roared past.

At
home at Longhope this morning, there was a very small
and sleek warbler feeding in the vegetation, probably a Willow Warbler on its passage.

9th
July 2011 – I went to
Ashleworth for half an hour just after lunch.From the hide there were 2 Grey Herons
and a male Pintail on the scrape which still has plenty of water.A Buzzard and a Kestrel were the only
raptors present but a heavy shower made flying conditions poor.

2nd
July 2011 – I made a
short trip to Ashleworth just before lunch.I was unable to park at the hide as
there appeared to be an event on, so I parked at Dirty Lane for half an hour.I was happy to see the usual House
Martins flying around Stonebow Farm where they are
known to breed.Although there are
reports of lower numbers of hirundines generally this
year, the usual breeding birds appear to be at the farm although they appear to
be frequenting the southern side of the buildings.The northern side has been refurbished
recently with paint and the roof has been cleaned so perhaps any nesting sites
on this side have been removed by the repairs.I noted 3 Buzzards in the area of Dirty Lane and a
falcon species at long range over the farm but it was too far away to make an identification.

This
evening at home at Longhope, there was a small
passage of Swifts to the east, possibly on migration.

1st July 2011 – Symonds Yat.I spent 2 hours at the Yat between 1230 and 1430 to see if there was any Peregrine
activity since I had not visited for a week or so.It was a dry, warmand calm day with many sunny
periods.I was delighted to see 2
Peregrines in one of the trees. They were somewhat obscured by the foliage but
I could see that at least one of these two birds was a juvenile.A successful breeding season as so far
reported.Another bird which I
thought to be an adult male flew to the north a few minutes later.Other sightings included at least one
Hummingbird Hawkmoth which flew all around the
viewpoint on several occasions.A
Goshawk gave very good if brief views to the north scattering many
Woodpigeons.The Peregrines gave a
flying display later in the afternoon with three birds taking part.I am told that there are three juveniles
this year.

I
moved on to Nagshead RSPB reserve later and walked
the short trail.A young Fallow
Deer was very close as I entered the wood on the trail from the old visitors
centre.It showed no fear of me and
eventually jumped the sheep fence from a standstill with ease.A Tree Pipit was in the meadow area and
there were many Song Thrushes but generally the woods were quiet.A Treecreeper
was chased by a Grey Squirrel of which there are many and a Blackcap was
foraging.